Ocean literacy in European Oceanographic Agencies: EuroGOOS recomendations for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030. EuroGOOS Policy Brief

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Do (and say) as I say: Linguistic adaptation in human-computer dialogs

© Theodora Koulouri, Stanislao Lauria, and Robert D. Macredie. This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.There is strong research evidence showing that people naturally align to each other’s vocabulary, sentence structure, and acoustic features in dialog, yet little is known about how the alignment mechanism operates in the interaction between users and computer systems let alone how it may be exploited to improve the efficiency of the interaction. This article provides an account of lexical alignment in human–computer dialogs, based on empirical data collected in a simulated human–computer interaction scenario. The results indicate that alignment is present, resulting in the gradual reduction and stabilization of the vocabulary-in-use, and that it is also reciprocal. Further, the results suggest that when system and user errors occur, the development of alignment is temporarily disrupted and users tend to introduce novel words to the dialog. The results also indicate that alignment in human–computer interaction may have a strong strategic component and is used as a resource to compensate for less optimal (visually impoverished) interaction conditions. Moreover, lower alignment is associated with less successful interaction, as measured by user perceptions. The article distills the results of the study into design recommendations for human–computer dialog systems and uses them to outline a model of dialog management that supports and exploits alignment through mechanisms for in-use adaptation of the system’s grammar and lexicon

Insights into the molecular mechanisms of stress and inflammation in ageing and frailty of the elderly

Frailty is a natural state of physical, cognitive and mental decline that is expected in the elderly. The role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of frailty has been hypothesized, and so far many studies have been performed in order to understand the mechanism of action underlying this association. Recent studies support this hypothesis and show a clear association between inflammation, frailty, and age-related disease. Chronic inflammation is key pathophysiologic process that contributes to the frailty directly and indirectly through other intermediate physiologic systems, such as the musculoskeletal, endocrine, and hematologic systems. The complex multifactorial etiologies of frailty also include obesity and other age-related specific diseases. Herein, we investigate the link between chronic inflammation and frailty of the older people. In particular, we present an up-to-date review of the role of cytokines, interleukins, cardiovascular abnormalities, chronic high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia and diabetes in relation to the severity of frailty in the elderly

Insights into embedded policy paradigms and Kazakhstan's future trajectory

This chapter delineates the lessons from the book by linking the conclusions from different chapters and highlighting the implications for Kazakhstan’s future policy and governance in the light of the ambitious Kazakhstan-2050 strategy that has been on the nation’s agenda since its adoption in 2012. The chapter identifies four themes that were reiterated by the authors throughout the book. The overarching theme is sustainability of Kazakhstan’s development as the future of some sectors does not appear to be resting on policies that are best suited to meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. The other themes may be summarised as calls to ensure advancement in four areas: economic restructuring, participatory governance, intersectoral thinking in policymaking, and policy integration, rather than fragmentation. This concluding chapter discusses each of these themes in detail and draws the learning points for adjustments in policy and governance

Improved EEG source localization with Bayesian uncertainty modelling of unknown skull conductivity

textabstractElectroencephalography (EEG) source imaging is an ill-posed inverse problem that requires accurate conductivity modelling of the head tissues, especially the skull. Unfortunately, the conductivity values are difficult to determine in vivo. In this paper, we show that the exact knowledge of the skull conductivity is not always necessary when the Bayesian approximation error (BAE) approach is exploited. In BAE, we first postulate a probability distribution for the skull conductivity that describes our (lack of) knowledge on its value, and model the effects of this uncertainty on EEG recordings with the help of an additive error term in the observation model. Before the Bayesian inference, the likelihood is marginalized over this error term. Thus, in the inversion we estimate only our primary unknown, the source distribution. We quantified the improvements in the source localization when the proposed Bayesian modelling was used in the presence of different skull conductivity errors and levels of measurement noise. Based on the results, BAE was able to improve the source localization accuracy, particularly when the unknown (true) skull conductivity was much lower than the expected standard conductivity value. The source locations that gained the highest improvements were shallow and originally exhibited the largest localization errors. In our case study, the benefits of BAE became negligible when the signal-to-noise ratio dropped to 20 dB

The Ethnic 'Other' in Ukrainian History Textbooks: The Case of Russia and the Russians

This paper examines portrayals of Russia and the Russians in two generations of Ukrainian history textbooks. It observes that the textbooks are highly condemning of Ukraine's main ethnic other in the guise of foreign ruler: the tsarist authorities and the Soviet regime are always attributed dubious and malicious intentions even if there is appreciation for some of their policies. By contrast, the books, certainly those of the second generation, refrain from presenting highly biased accounts of the ethnic other as a national group (i.e. Russians). Instances where negative judgements do fall onto Russians are counterbalanced by excerpts criticizing ethnic Ukrainians or highlighting conflicting interests within the Ukrainian ethnic group. The negative appraisal of the ethnic other as foreign ruler is clearly instrumental for the nation-building project as it sustains a discourse legitimating the existence of Ukraine as independent state. However, recent trends in history education, the paper concludes, suggest that the importance of nurturing patriotism as a national policy objective is diminishing

Localisation of an occult thyrotropinoma with 11^{11}C-methionine PET-CT before and after somatostatin analogue therapy

A 75-year-old woman presented to her local endocrine service with tiredness, palpitations, and enlargement of a longstanding goitre. Unexpectedly, her thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH]) concentration was not suppressed (6·3 mU/L; reference range 0·35–5·5) despite raised concentrations of thyroid hormones (free thyroxine [T$_{4}$] 89·1 pmol/L [reference range 10–19·8]; free triiodothyronine [T$_{3}$] 11·7 pmol/L [3·0–6·5]). After exclusion of laboratory assay interference, a thyrotropin-releasing hormone test showed an attenuated response (TSH at 0 min was 6·1 mU/L, at 20 min was 6·8 mU/L, and at 60 min was 8·5 mU/L), raising suspicion of a thyrotropinoma (also known as TSHoma). However, pituitary MRI was normal. The patient was referred to our centre for further assessment. On repeat MRI, the pituitary gland showed mild asymmetry (right larger than left; figure A). Functional imaging with 11C-methionine ($^{11}$C-Met) PET-CT revealed intense tracer uptake (denoting active peptide synthesis) on the right side of the sella (red hot spot in figure A). Treatment with a depot somatostatin analogue (SSA) led to resolution of symptoms and normalisation of thyroid function (TSH 0·6 mU/L, free T$_{4}$ 12·5 pmol/L, and free T$_{3}$ 3·8 pmol/L). Repeat $^{11}$C-Met PET-CT showed absence of the right-sided focal hot spot (figure B). 14 months into treatment, the patient had several hypoglycaemic episodes, which resolved after discontinuation of SSA. However, thyrotoxicosis recurred (TSH 4·3 mU/L, free T$_{4}$ 38·1 pmol/L, free T$_{3}$ 11·6 pmol/L), and repeat $^{11}$C-Met PET-CT revealed the reappearance of the right-sided hot spot (figure C). During pituitary surgery, a microthyrotropinoma was resected from the right side of the gland (figure D). The patient remains in clinical and biochemical remission more than 12 months after surgery and has normal pituitary function

Teaching introductory programming: a quantitative evaluation of different approaches

© ACM, 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 4, Article 26, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/266241